The Dead Ptarmigan (Self-Portrait) – William Orpen

Orpen painted himself holding a dead bird and called it a self-portrait. That tells you everything about him.

The Dead Ptarmigan was painted around 1909, when Orpen was at the peak of his reputation — the most in-demand portraitist in the British Isles, earning more than almost any painter of his generation. He could have painted himself in a studio, brush in hand, the picture of success. Instead he chose this: a limp ptarmigan, a direct stare, the whole thing drenched in the tradition of Dutch vanitas painting. He even noted, with characteristic dryness, that "we grow ptarmigans in the West."

It is a painting about mortality, about the gap between reputation and reality, about what it means to be Irish and successful and slightly apart from it all. Nobody else was making work like this in Ireland in 1909.

The original hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland. This archival print is made on heavyweight fine art paper with fade-resistant inks, built to last.

Sizes & Format

• 20 × 25 cm / 8 × 10″
• 40 × 50 cm / 16 × 20″

Delivered in 2–5 business days.

Print & Frame Details

Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.

Free Worldwide Shipping

Framed prints are packed with protective corners and wrap, boxed with reinforced edges, and braced with internal supports for extra rigidity (max 3 frames per package). Every order ships free, made to order and delivered from the hub closest to you: Ireland 3–7 business days · UK 4–8 · USA 5–10 · Canada 6–12 · Australia 7–14.